


Courting Gifts

by Tethys_resort



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Courting Rituals, Cultural Differences, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, F/M, Gift Giving, M/M, Rivendell | Imladris, Romance, Romantic Fluff, city building, construction zones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23579998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tethys_resort/pseuds/Tethys_resort
Summary: Elrond tries to decide on the perfect gift to court Lady Celebrian.
Relationships: Celebrían/Elrond Peredhel, Erestor/Glorfindel (Tolkien)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 80





	Courting Gifts

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings - none that I can think of, this is actually just pretty cute and fluffy.

Elrond left the House just before dawn and went to scout. 

He always thought the best view of the river valley was from a high Guard point across the river. It was a perfect vantage point to see far up and down the river, and up the dell that made the main settlement of Imladris. 

It had been almost 80 years since the fall of Eregion, and the survivors of the Siege of Imladris had built a thriving settlement in the sheltered cove created by the foot of the mountain and the waterfalls on either side. The scars of the fortifications they had built into the cliffs were in vivid relief in the early light. The oldest buildings in the town were halfway into the rock faces: the storage silos and the bathhouse, relics of the siege. The brand new market square was just in front of the cliffs and bounded by a thriving craftsmen’s district. 

Closer to him and protecting the mouth of the dell, well above the Great Falls of the Bruinen but surrounded by the River and lesser waterfalls was the half-built site of the House of Elrond. 

He was staring at the town and House site thinking when from behind him a voice said, “You know, the watch Guards can’t decide if you are inspecting them or the town.”

Elrond turned to smile at Glorfindel and started to laugh. “How did you get so muddy?”

Glorfindel grinned, “Last night was a night scouting lesson with those new soldiers Lindon sent us in the exchange. The object was for one half to sneak up on the Lower Marsh Watch Tower and the other try to spot them.” The grin widened and he commented, “It ended up with quite a mess where nobody managed to sneak or defend.” 

Behind him, the watch Guards smiled. The soldiers from Lindon had only been here two weeks. Long enough to irritate most of the Guard with their arrogance, but not long enough to learn better. Elrond said, “Should I expect to see any new residents of the Healing Hall?” 

“Nope, just damaged egos and a lot of mud. Their lieutenants already took them in. This is mostly because I had to find a position to watch the whole thing.” Glorfindel stepped up to lean on the sheltered railing. “What were you looking at?”

Which brought him back to his purpose for the morning: to try and decide on a gift that would impress Lady Celebrian. Not to mention her parents, the formidable Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn. “I was thinking about a gift for Lady Celebrian.” Courting Lady Celebrian is going well, but he wanted to show off a little for her next visit. He has about two years, so there is enough time to do something wonderful. 

Glorfindel glanced over, “Something big? Two years isn’t a lot of time. I think Erestor’s timeline has us putting in all the terraces, the main dining hall, the permanent kitchens and starting the foundations for the South end?”

Erestor was masterminding the planning of the House. Elrond was impressed. His Steward turned Chief Advisor had an unexpected flair for building design and the plans he and the Gwaith-i-Mirdain survivors had invented were both elegant and defensible. The drawings were full of beautiful arched walks, little linked courtyards, and spacious living quarters for the entire House. And sealable passageways to isolate corridors, arrow slits and murder holes. Elrond had tried to veto the murder holes, but for once his entire senior staff had agreed that they were a good plan and he had been effectively overruled. 

So Elrond instead hoped that he would never have to use the murder holes. 

“That’s just it….” He stared at the site, currently a mass of rickety halls and rooms, cleared areas, wall markers and mud. And the occasional stone lined pit of a future basement. “I want it to be a truly special courtship present.” 

He sighed, Lady Celebrian has a wide selection of potential suitors. 

And compared to other potential suitors, even with the title of Herald, he is the minor lord of a new holding. Worse yet, Imladris is well protected but incredibly isolated. Its very location made it more of a fortress and sanctuary rather than a show piece of proper civilization.

He’ll ignore the part where his new sanctuary is full of old Feanorians.

“I think you should be more confident in your chances.” Glorfindel reached out like he was going to pat Elrond’s shoulder, looked at his hand and set it back on the rail. “Come on, let’s go down. Erestor says he’ll order breakfast in the big conference room and bring all the plans.”

***

The House of Elrond temporary quarters were holdovers from the Siege: sturdy, slightly ramshackle looking and more boxy and defensible than pretty. At the stables Glorfindel had detoured off to the bathhouse, leaving Elrond to wander in alone. 

The big conference room was just inside the front door and Elrond was delighted to see that Erestor had a fire in the fireplace, all the maps and plans, and a very nice breakfast. 

Erestor gave him one of his rare smiles (reserved for Glorfindel and him, he suspects) and pulled out a chair in front of the food. “Here, get a plate and tell me about your ideas. Glorfindel is washing up as quickly as he can.”

Elrond loaded a plate and sat down, prodding at breakfast. Erestor glared at him. “Eat.”

He was still picking at his full plate and staring at Erestor’s careful arrangement and rearrangement of the maps when Glorfindel wandered in with clean clothing and damp hair. Glorfindel smiled at Elrond, “What sort of scale of gift did you have in mind? It occurred to me while I was washing up that you hadn’t specified.”

Elrond straightened a little. “I was thinking some part of the House could be dedicated to Lady Celebrian somehow. Maybe one of the wings? Like the Healing Hall?”

Erestor poked Glorfindel in one shoulder and stared at one of the empty conference chairs. When Glorfindel obediently drifted that direction, he loaded up two plates and sat down next to both of them. They sat in silence together for a while, enjoying company and breakfast. By the slightly vacant look in Glorfindel’s eyes as he chewed on pastry, Elrond was fairly certain that Erestor and Glorfindel were having a vigorous discussion down their mate bond. 

Sure enough, Glorfindel shrugged slightly, swallowed his bite and said, “Maybe something a little more personalized and less practical than the Healing Hall? And, you are a healer, but I would agree that maybe the Healing Halls would carry the connotation that you associate her with requiring the Healers?”

Erestor snorted. “Or maybe that you think she needs healing for thinking that you should court…”

Elrond blinked, he had meant to dedicate the heart and soul of the House of Elrond to Lady Celebrian. “Do you think she’d really think that?”

“No but you know the petty lords of every court that hears of this gift are going to draw the worst possible interpretations.” Erestor looked amused at Elrond’s sigh of minor dismay; he had forgotten about the petty lords that decorate the major Courts. Imladris was as yet too much work to have attracted any of the sycophants.

“Maybe a garden? With ornamental flowers? There are plenty of them planned through the House, you would just have to pick a good one.” Glorfindel was staring out the window at the mud.

“Or a feast Hall, statue, or fountain or something dedicated to her?” Erestor’s entertainment with the project showed easily in the gleam in his eyes. “At any rate, we have two years so it should be a part of the House that will be completed by then. No use in having the whatever out in the woods.”

Glorfindel laughed. “The ‘whatever’?”

Erestor flapped a hand at the window. “Garden, courtyard, hall, statue, fountain… Let’s finish eating and then I’ll point out some likely options on our plans.”

Elrond took a deep breath, with his Chief Advisor and Seneschal both helping he was certain that he could come up with a good gift worthy of the Lady Celebrian. And hopefully impressive to Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn.

***

After breakfast and plan inspection, they took the master sheet and went on a tour of the House-site. They had narrowed it down just a little, but mostly because Glorfindel had argued that, “Good courting gifts should at minimum have both of you. And ideally contain a little of the ground, air, sunlight, water and growing things for luck.” When pressed to explain further Glorfindel had looked baffled that this wasn’t common knowledge, (and Erestor was just as puzzled at this particular bit of intelligence) so Elrond figured he had run into a distinctly Vanya concept. 

Trying to work out Glorfindel’s explanation, Elrond said, “I remember some of your courting gifts, did you ever do anything larger than when Glorfindel gave you the chocolate tart?”

Glorfindel laughed, “That was a begetting day gift.”

Erestor blinked at Elrond. “I didn’t think any of them were really courting gifts. After all, I had already decided that I was keeping Glorfindel.”

Glorfindel mphhed reflectively and said, “Maybe when you installed me in your living room?”

“Definitely more expediency than courting.” 

“We should do courting gifts now! Erestor, what do you want?” 

Elrond stared, he wasn’t certain you’re supposed to consult with the receiver of the gifts over their contents. He was also certain that in Erestor and Glorfindel’s case there had been 40 years of tiny little gifts and kindnesses between the two before they had bonded. 

Erestor threw his arms around Glorfindel and kissed an ear before he said, “I would like a big soft bed in a bedroom with a view of the mountain courtyard.”

“Does that count?” Glorfindel pulled Erestor closer and nodded off toward the sea of mud. “We both already agreed on that.”

“Built in hardwood bookshelves in our living room, a comfy sofa, two lap quilts decorated with flowers and one of those water lamps the Gwaith-i-Mirdain were experimenting with?” 

“Done.” Erestor and Glorfindel nodded at each other as if that had simply settled the entire idea of courting gifts. 

Elrond said, “Wait, what were you getting for Glorfindel then?”

Erestor laughed, “That wasn’t obvious?” 

Ignoring Elrond’s quizzical looks and still chuckling, Erestor grabbed his list and headed off out the door and through the building site.

Some locations could be immediately rejected: too small, off the beaten path or too hard to create within the next two years. It was getting late enough in the morning that they had to dodge work crews and Erestor had to divert to deal with a minor building issue. He returned about a (marked with flagging and poles) wing later in the tour. Eventually out of potential selections, they went back to the Hall of Fire and sat in front of the fire.

Elrond stared at his Chief Advisor and Seneschal draped over chairs and sighed. They did not look particularly inspired either. 

Erestor pulled out the master plan again and beckoned Glorfindel over to point out something to do with the replacement bridge over the Bruinen and Elrond got up to pace and think. He ended up standing in the side doorway of the Hall of Fire, staring across the barren space between it and the planned kitchens. 

“Do you think that Lady Celebrian would like a courtyard garden next to the Hall of Fire as a courting gift?” To Elrond, it had definite promise. 

Glorfindel and Erestor got up to stare at the potential courtyard garden. Erestor narrowed his eyes in a thoughtful glower at the barren space. “Not just a courtyard. Maybe include a fountain? If we shuffle the plans a little we could put the fountain over that artesian well near the kitchens and have the stream flow this way….” As he talked he gestured at the floor plans for that end and finally took a scrap of paper to re-draw the idea out. “That would make the fountain garden the focal point to this side of the Hall of Fire and create a secure secondary water source.” 

Elrond stared at the neat lines on the paper and smiled. Perfect. And then Glorfindel said, “Has Lady Celebrian indicated anything about what her courting gifts will be?”

When Elrond just stared he stared back. “What? In Valinor it was expected that both would give gifts to each other. Has that changed too?” 

Erestor began to laugh. When Elrond looked to him for support, he shrugged and said, “The Feanorians dispensed with physical gifts for lack of resources but most gifts I saw were reciprocal unless their feelings weren’t returned. I don’t know what the Sindar or Avari do. Maybe we can ask Lindir?”

****

Lindir, when queried, had offered to travel to Lady Celebrian’s “very window” and sing love songs on Elrond’s behalf and advised him to work hard on his poetry. Glorfindel had offered to teach him the Vanyar language of flowers and assured him that any mate worth having would certainly also bring courting gifts to Elrond. 

Elrond had eventually given up trying to explain to Glorfindel why he didn’t expect to get anything from Lady Celebrian. 

Erestor had dissolved into rare giggles watching the whole thing, and then that very day gone and hired the best of the surviving stone carvers from Ost-in-Edhil out of his and Glorfindel’s personal pockets, “as a gift”. 

It was two months later when the courier with a pack mule appeared. At the entrance to the House, he bowed low to Lord Elrond. “My Lord Elrond. I come at the express wishes of Lady Celebrian.” 

Elrond watched with wide eyes and Erestor smiled slightly as the courier straightened, patted his horse and began to unload the pack mule. The panniers were completely full of carefully wrapped burlap packages that he unloaded and then set in a tidy line in front of Elrond. As he worked, Glorfindel (still in full armor and carrying a practice sword) appeared at a trot, with Lindir running behind him.

Elrond rolled his eyes. Of course, Erestor would have let his mate know about the courier’s arrival. Lindir was bouncing happily with a wide grin: Elrond figured he had seen Glorfindel trot past and followed. 

Unloading completed, the courier bowed formally again. “My Lord Elrond, Lady Celebrian sends her best wishes and a small token of her affections. She hopes that they might find a welcome in the new gardens of Imladris that you may enjoy their beauty as well. I am the Head of Gardens for Lady Galadriel and have been asked to answer any questions and assist in planting if you wish.” He glanced up and then smiled at Elrond’s expression. “I selected these plants myself from Lady Celebrian’s personal garden at her instruction. These are some of her favorite flowers but many are rare medicinals that she wanted to share.”

Glorfindel grinned and patted Elrond’s shoulder. “I told you: have a little more faith in yourself.” 


End file.
